Urban myths about Walkable Eastwood

There are several myths floating out there in Syracuse that somehow mistakenly are taken as “fact” concerning the Walkable Eastwood group of neighbors:

Myth: Redevelopment at the northeast corner of James and Midler (the former location of Steak & Sundae ) is being prevented by the Walkable Eastwood group.

Fact: The owner of the building at that location, Mike Muraco, has a vacant building because he had doubled the former restaurant’s rent. The restaurant owner decided to leave and build his own restaurant on Teall Ave. There were no other tenants even though there was vacant space. After that, Mr. Muraco submitted a request to the Planning Commission to have the building demolished (this falls under the City Zoning Code and NOT the James Street Overlay District). The Planning Commission denied the request because, under the City of Syracuse Zoning Code, you must have a site re-development plan in place before you can demolish. The owner did not have a plan. The owner retaliated against the Planning Commission with a law suit and he lost. The owner has yet to bring a site plan application under the James Street Overlay District standards to the Planning Commission. Therefore, the Walkable Eastwood group is absolutely not at fault since they had no control over what the owner does with his property, including failure to upkeep the property, failure to pay taxes on the property, or failure to lease the property (which would ONLY fall under the guidelines if there was any rehabilitation and new use in the old building).

Myth: The Walkable Eastwood group is responsible for the tattoo parlors, bars, salons, and pawn shops.

Fact: These land uses are permitted as-of-right under the City of Syracuse Zoning Code regardless of the Overlay District Design Standards. Therefore, the Walkable Eastwood group is absolutely powerless over what or who decides to open a business on James Street.

Myth: The Walkable Eastwood group is against development of any kind on James Street.

Fact: There has been one development application for site plan review on James Street that falls under the James Street Overlay District Design Standards (other than those by Mr. Pomphrey of Pomco) who generally complies with the spirit and the intent of the standards), and that is Walgreens (Five Points Development formerly HDL). The developer of Walgreens, Guy Hart, Jr., was on his own schedule and failed to submit a sign plan with his original site plan back in 2005 (the sign plan was NOT approved before). Therefore, the Walkable Eastwood group simply made sure that the design standards were complied with when he did submit his sign plan four years later. The hold-up was entirely self-created by the developer as he requested 11 waivers from the design standards. Had he complied (as Mr. Pomphrey does) he would have been through the process in a matter of weeks (as Mr. Pomphrey is).

Myth: The Walkable Eastwood group is responsible for that “hole in the ground that used to be the Bowling Alley” (the southwest corner of James and Midler).

Fact: The owner of that property, Tino Marcoccia, had worked with the original James Street Overlay District Review Board back in the early 2000 period (prior to the review board being dissolved by the City) on a site plan. The funding for Mr. Marcoccia’s project fell through and he did not return with a site plan. Therefore, he never went through the review process to have it denied or granted. The owner was approached with purchase offers, the owner refused to sell.

The Walkable Eastwood group is simply a grassroots volunteer organization of neighbors who value pedestrian-oriented development. This type of development is what is revitalizing Syracuse’s downtown as well as many other cities and towns in the country. It is 21st century-style development. Unfortunately for Mr. Hart, the Walgreens development was the antithesis of a mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented, traditional neighborhood Main Street design of which the Overlay District Standards require.

Some of the Eastwood residents are willing to settle for less…or are desperate (which is not a requirement under the Eastwood Overlay Design Standards). The Walkable Eastwood group is willing to hold out for something better because it knows that it’s possible to develop something uniquely Eastwood that looks and is cohesive, pleasing to explore, and diverse in its businesses. The group, comprised of people from a wide variety of backgrounds, includes professional urban planners, civil engineers, landscape architects, architects, and college professors who know by their training, education and expertise that the alternative, design centered on automobiles, is no longer acceptable. Auto-centric design is unhealthy, unsustainable and bad for property values. Thus they are protecting their own property values as well as those of their neighbors by using the tools and resources available to them. Nothing more, nothing less.

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4 thoughts on “Urban myths about Walkable Eastwood”

I feel bad for Eastwood, the ever dying village within the city. I was in Byrne Dairy last weekend and nearly feared for my life with so many hoodlums and thugs around. Unfortunately Eastwood will never be as it was in it’s hey day, as the City of Syracuse is suffering this same fate. As housing prices in the city drop, more undesirable people who have no concern for property upkeep, move in. This is happening street by street in Eastwood. Check out some of the apartment buildings on James as well as the seedy bars. Some very scary people frequent those places!

Oh, heck, this is the same ol’ same ol’ Syracuse-bashing mindset that keeps us… well, bashing Syracuse. Eastwood is, in fact, improving bit by bit. There’s certainly more work to be done, but just open your eyes and look at the glass that is more than half full. I don’t know if you’ve ever invested in real estate around here, but prices have been steadily going UP over at least the past five years. Syracuse is one of the strongest housing markets in the country:http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/syracuse_housing_market_ranks.html And it’s also one of the most fun cities in the country:http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2010/04/hey_syracuse_aint_we_got_fun.html
So either you’re part of the problem or you’re part of the solution. What ideas do you have for improving Eastwood instead of bashing Eastwood and its many businesses and residents?

Unfortunately the “BASHING” as you say is true. Reduce taxes, create incentives for small businesses to locate or re-locate on James Street. Stricter rules on the “flop” houses and the current business properties to maintain and upkeep their property. There you go. There are my ideas.

I like those ideas! What kind of incentives would you suggest? There are codes in place but maybe they’re not strong enough or enforcement is lax. How do we make those rules stronger? and get them enforced?